New York Yankees

Major League Baseball has started its investigation into those connected to Biogenesis and will begin interviewing players. They have yet to talk to Ryan Braun and Alex Rodriguez, but that could be coming. It's unknown who they'll be able to suspend or if anything will happen at all, but according to Jon Heyman: MLB officials believe the league's Joint Drug Agreement may allow it to announce suspensions before any appeal process in this case since the names have already surfaced publicly. The players union position is that any suspension, as well as the announcement of suspensions, should be stayed until the appeal process is complete. That is where the debate stands, but where do the Yankees stand? Kevin Youkilis will be out until September and that leaves the team with David Adams and Jayson Nix. The two of them have combined for 0.5 WAR this season and the Yankees have gotten -0.1 WAR of production from the position; the seventh worst in baseball. It's clear that they need an upgrade at the postion, but the only way to do that is to make a trade. Too bad Brian Cashman is content on standing pat: Cashman says for the moment they wont look to acquire a new 3rd baseman, will wait for ARod's return. — Daniel Barbarisi (@DanBarbarisi) June 18, 2013 Not only are they waiting around for a soon-to-be 38-year-old to come back from his second hip surgery, but he could also be suspended and, if MLB is still aiming for 100-game suspensions, he won't be helping anyone. Can the Yankees actually sit around and wait, even with so many factors against them, or does the team take action? Is Cashman's comments just strategy? If no trade is made does that mean that the Yankees are happy to coast through the rest of the season?

From RailRider to the Stadium Subway Race… Via ESPN - The Yankees called up Zoilo Almonte on Tuesday. Almonte will make his major league debut by starting in the nightcap of Wednesday’s doubleheader, manager Joe Girardi said. Almonte, 24, hit .297 with six homers and 36 RBIs in 68 games with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, and will provide additional depth in the outfield. The Yankees like what they’ve seen offensively from Almonte. “We really believe this kid’s going to hit,” Girardi said. “At times we really saw it in spring training. He struggled a little bit in spring training and maybe it was the excitement of making it a team, but he has [swung] the bat well down there, especially left-handed for him.” The Yankees called up Almonte, as well as reliever/starter Adam Warren, after placing third baseman Kevin Youkilis and first baseman Mark Teixeira on the disabled list. By using the roster spots on an outfielder and pitcher, the Yankees are lacking bodies for the infield. Girardi stressed that the team will have to be creative, mentioning that outfielder Thomas Neal has played first base before, and David Adams could be used again. “With all of the injuries, you kind of have to do it and guys maybe have to step out of their comfort zone,” Girardi said. “They have been very willing.”

Via Jon Heyman: MLB investigators are convinced there will be at least some suspensions handed down in the wake of their investigation into the South Florida performance-enhancing drug hub Biogenesis. League officials believe they could announce the suspensions before the appeals process begins even though the Joint Drug Agreement says otherwise. The lack of failed tests means MLB will build their case around “non-analytical positives” and require a ton of corroborating evidence. Former Biogenesis chief Anthony Bosch recently agreed to cooperate with the investigation in exchange for a variety of things, but not before allegedly trying to extort a six-figure payout from Alex Rodriguez. The league also met with primary whistle-blower Porter Fischer on three occasions according to Tim Elfrink. MLB is looking to suspend upwards of 20 players, but the appeals process will take time regardless of when the announcement is made. Post from: River Ave. Blues A New York Yankees blogHeyman: Biogenesis investigation likely to result in suspensions

Yankees lineup 1. Brett Gardner CF 2. Jayson Nix SS 3. Robinson Cano 2B 4. Vernon Wells LF 5. Thomas Neal DH 6. Ichiro Suzuki RF 7. David Adams 3B 8. Lyle Overbay 1B 9. Chris Stewart C Hiroki Kuroda RHP Dodgers lineup 1. Nick Punto SS 2. Yasiel Puig RF 3. Adrian Gonzalez 1B 4. Hanley Ramirez DH 5. Andre Ethier CF 6. Juan Uribe 3B 7. Skip Schumaker 2B 8. A.J. Ellis C 9. Alex Castellanos LF Hyun-Jin Ryu LHP Umpires: Andy Fletcher HP, John Tumpane 1B, Joe West 2B, Sam Holbrook 3B TV/Radio: YES/WCBS 880 Weather: partly cloudy, comfortable Yankees vs. lefties: Despite their depleted righty lineup, the Yankees are 14-7 vs. lefty starters, a .667 winning percentage, the best in the majors against them. The post Game 70: Yankees vs. Dodgers (Game 1) appeared first on The LoHud Yankees Blog.

The Miami New Times has published new allegations on the Biogenesis case, including an amusing one that New York Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez was visited by clinic operator Tony Bosch during the 2012 ALCS. Apparently, what's supposed to be the biggest drug scandal in baseball since (or maybe including) BALCO involves a "doctor" making a house call.The New York Daily News frames it as such:According to a former business associate of Bosch, Rodriguez, mired in a slump that had seen him lose his starting job in the series against the Tigers, summoned Bosch to Detroit to help him Read more Alex Rodriguez news

This is a painful and difficult thing for me to write, and yet it also represents something that is long overdue: It is time for me to say goodbye to the Pinstriped Bible. I began the Pinstriped Bible back in the 1990s, at a time when baseball coverage on the Internet was scant and the number of team blogs were few. At the time, I had to convince the decision-makers at the few platforms that existed that there would be interest in a regular baseball feature, one that attempted to build community around common interest in a team, and that it was worth their while to pay me (or anyone) to write it. The focus wouldn't be on reporting, but conversation and analysis. I called what I was proposing a column, but it was really a blog -- the term just hadn't yet come into common usage. Over the years that followed, the Pinstriped Bible had many homes, including the original Yankees.com, MLB.com, YES, and finally here. The feature opened many doors for me. I made many good friends and came to the attention of Baseball Prospectus. I joined BP in 2003 -- in company parlance I became an "author" -- and over time, my work there gradually became the focus of my professional life. The Pinstriped Bible remained important to me, but it no longer commanded my full attention. The same was true when I came here to SB Nation. My job had two distinct functions -- the Pinstriped Bible and duties around the network, which ultimately coalesced in the editorship of sbnation.com's baseball coverage. Somehow, the latter always seemed to win out. This was in part due to the fact that in my old age I tend to work slowly and methodically. As such, splitting time between roles became difficult, but it is also true that it had been a long time since I considered the PB my most important or interesting job, and though it was never my intention to put it in second place, it just kept happening. When I came to SB Nation, I thought I could reverse the flow of energy away from the PB that had begun at Baseball Prospectus, but that was simply unrealistic. I had changed too much. Keep in mind my well of fandom was never deep. I was brought up as a Yankees fan, to a certain extent, but baseball was not a huge part of my family or my identity. As a small child I got caught up in the excitement of the 1976-1981 Yankees, the Reggie-Billy teams, but mostly because it was something that was omnipresent in the culture, not because those around me were highly invested. The emergence of Don Mattingly as a star when I was 13 led me to a more mature, thorough interest, as well as to Bill James. Yet, I was never a diehard fan of the team in the same sense that many of my readers were. This was in part due to my upbringing, which taught me to be analytical and agnostic about most things, but also due to a quirk of my personality: The bigger the crowd I am in, the lonelier I get and the more alienated I feel. Essentially, as Groucho Marx said, I don't want to belong to any club that would have me as a member. I am not a joiner or a follower, and never will be. Blind allegiance to anything is not something to which I can relate. I think it also mattered that during that part of my life when I was most susceptible to learning to be a fan in the bumper-sticker sense of the term that the Yankees were not always easy to root for: When I was very young, the team was winning World Series, but the dysfunctional romantic triangle that was Reggie, Billy, and George (or George, Billy, and everybody else) meant that those wins were tinged with a kind of stressful negativity that I could sense even then -- as a kid, you just want everyone to get along, especially mommy and daddy, but also your favorite team, its biggest star, its owner, and its manager. Subsequently, when I was rediscovering baseball in the Mattingly years, the team represented a paradox: they won more games than any other team in baseball, but without ever reaching the postseason, and on many levels they were run -- ther

(Al Bello/Getty) Don Mattingly’s return to the Bronx was spoiled by rain last night, so now his two-day return will be squeezed into one doubleheader. The Yankees and Dodgers are playing two games today, something that is always more fun in theory than in practice. Doubleheaders can be hell on an older roster. I guess the good news is that New York just had two straight days off and have another off-day coming up on Monday. Here’s the lineup Joe Girardi is sending out there against left-hander Hyun-Jin Ryu in the first game: CF Brett Gardner SS Jayson Nix 2B Robinson Cano LF Vernon Wells DH Thomas Neal RF Ichiro Suzuki 3B David Adams 1B Lyle Overbay C Chris Stewart And on the mound is the former Los Angeles Dodger, Hiroki Kuroda. He spent four seasons in LA, making one Opening Day start (2009). There won’t be any weather issues today — it’s supposed to be nice and sunny and a little on the cool side this afternoon here in New York. The first of the two games is scheduled to start at 1:05pm ET and can be seen on YES locally and MLB Network nationally. Enjoy. Post from: River Ave. Blues A New York Yankees blogGame 70: Let’s Try This Again

Let's just play some baseball! Brett Gardner CF Jayson Nix SS Robinson Cano 2B Vernon Wells LF Thomas Neal DH Ichiro Suzuki RF David Adams 3B Lyle Overbay 1B Chris Stewart C On the mound, Phil Hughes Hiroki Kuroda takes on LHP Hyun-Jin Ryu.

Taking out a payday loan can help you deal with an emergency financial situation, or it can create one that is worse than it originally was. To make it something that will benefit you, you have to be fully educated about payday cash advances and everything that goes along with them. The following piece offers great advice about payday advances that can help you maximize your experience. There are high fees associated with cash advance loans. Make sure that these do not pile up if you are going the route of a payday loan. Be certain the payday lender gives you a list of all pertinent fees. Get this list before making application to be certain you won’t have to pay high penalties. Do not simply head for the first payday loan company you happen to see along your daily commute. While you may drive past them often, there may be better options if you take the time to look. You can save a good bit of money just by doing your research. TIP! Remember that the interest rates on payday loans are very high, before you even start getting one. It might be more than 2 times what the loan was worth. Checking Account Most times, you need to have a valid checking account in order to get a payday loan. This exists because lenders typically require you to give permission for direct withdrawal from the checking account on the loan’s due date. Once your paycheck is set to hit, the withdrawal will be initiated. Understand the penalties for late payments. When you get a loan, you may think you’re going to be able to pay it back when it’s due, but bad things happen sometimes. You should always read all of the provisions of the loan to find out what you are responsible for. For payday loans, the penalties can be quite high. TIP! Never be tempted to refinance a payday loan. Do everything you can to make the payments on time. Watch out for automatic additions of finance charges to future pay periods. When things like this take place, the loan becomes increasingly expensive, making it harder to pay the loan off. There are stories of people who have paid 500% of the original loan amount due to this practice. You want to chose a payday loan company that offers direct deposit. These particular companies will transfer money into your bank account after just one business day. It is convenient, and you will not have to walk around with cash on you. Know about payday loan fees before getting one. For example, borrowing $200 could come with a fee of $30. This figures out to about a 400% interest rate per annum. If you should happen to miss paying them back when it is due, you’re looking at even higher fees. TIP! Consider other options. Some companies will give you far better terms than another company will. Don’t dodge payday loan collectors if you find yourself unable to pay the loan back. Sometimes, you could get an extension, as hiding will lead to harassment. Thus, if timely repayment is impossible, it is wise to negotiate additional time for make payments. Just like you learned earlier, a payday loan can be either a good or bad thing. If you take your time to fully understand how cash advance loans work, you will most likely have a positive experience. The tips you just read are your go-to source for knowledge regarding payday advances.